Communication – New Zealand Pt. 1

Shane and his family are moving from Colorado Springs, Colorado to Snells Beach, New Zealand. We will share the journey with you via the blog. Lessons learned, the fun, the adventure, etc as they traverse 7,350 miles or 11,800 kilometers.

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Planning the Move:

Picture this, me, Shane – fly by the seat of my pants, shoot from the hip type of guy and my wife – planner, organizer and an accounting background.

Not only are we two different mind-sets, we are also obviously male and female. Now we are planning a move to the other side of the world. Do you see any potential communication challenges?

My wife has the next thirty steps planned and me, I get started and then plan as I go. We were both heading the same direction with the same goal in mind, however we were going at it in our own way and not working together.

When we plan together, as my wife is so good at doing, then if something comes up in the process, I can handle that using my strengths. Now of course this makes sense. However, it requires communication (listening is included in that I have been told) and some “give and take” to make this work.

We did not start out with this communication. Instead we went for the frustrated approached. Team work was non-existent and our relationship was stressed to say the least. I’m glad to say we didn’t stay with this approach. We realized that it’s not about one person being right and the other one wrong. The approaches are simply different and whether they work to our advantage or disadvantage is determined by how we look at them and apply them to our relationship.

We chose to use our strengths together to get to the end result. The key to the change for us was communication.

Shane

One response to Communication – New Zealand Pt. 1

That’s brilliant, years and years of marriage, 4 kids and it all comes down to the basics – communication

it is the essence of everything we do as a human being, the power to BE, the power to include, the power to build up, the power to love or the power to not-love

i am still laughing at myself as there is so much of me in what you wrote Shane. its always the simple things that make the difference, how many times am i too busy to stop and take note of the communication around me. how often does that show up in my life?